It was Belgian Tim Wellens at the front for the finish of Stage 4 of the 2018 Giro d’Italia. Wellens bested Michael Woods and Enrico Battaglin at the line.
Rohan Dennis of the BMC Racing Team finished comfortably with the peloton to keep the maglia rosa on his shoulders, with Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) sitting just 1 second back. Wellens’ win boosted his position in the General Classification to 4th, just 19 seconds off of the lead while Simon Yates moved from 6th to 3rd in the overall.
Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner, Wellens, said: “I was lucky enough to have very strong teammates. So I started with a bit of an advantage at the beginning of the climb. I didn’t have to go full-on from the bottom; I could wait for the last 200 metres. I’m very happy with winning as early as on stage 4 so the rest of the Giro will just be a bonus, whatever comes next. I’ll ride stress free now.”
The race leader, Dennis, said: “It’s been hectic with a lot of corners and a lot of public in the finale. It was a question of staying out of trouble from the last ten kilometres until the bottom of the last climb. It’s pretty common that I’ve lost the leader’s jersey after one day in other Grand Tours. To retain the Maglia Rosa today is big for me.”
Stage 4 Brief Results:
- Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) at 5:17:34″
- Michael Woods (Education First – Drapac) s.t.
- E. Battaglin (Lotto NL – Jumbo) s.t.
- Simon Yates (Movistar) s.t.
- Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
- Roman Kreuziger (Mitchelton – Scott) s.t.
- Patrick Conrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
- Luis-Leon Sanchez (Astana) s.t.
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain – Merida) s.t.
- Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton – Scott) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 4:
- Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) at 14h 23 ’08’ ‘
- Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) at 1 ”
- Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) at 17″
- Tim Wellens (Lotto – Soudal) at 19 ”
- Pello Bilbao (Astana) at 25″
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